Surprise! Petland neglects animals, store closes

The reputation of the Petland brand precedes itself, so the latest investigation results from the Humane Society of the United States detailing Petland’s reported animal neglect shouldn’t be a shocker. Still, with the number of animal advocates out there, one would think Petland stores might try to do a little better.

In a recently released report from the Humane Society of the United States, a total of six Petland locations were found to have mistreated dogs and rabbits.

The following was written by Marcus Dash and appeared at localdvm.com.

It’s been almost two months since the Petland in Fairfax, Virginia closed down after an undercover investigation led by the Humane Society of the United States revealed animal neglect, and now they are releasing more findings from other locations that are linked to the problems that went on in Fairfax.

The Humane Society of the United States released an expanded investigation that showed five other stores that had links to the same kind of animal neglect as what was showed in the Fairfax store.

These issues were first brought to the forefront by the investigators at the Northern Virginia location. According to the report, stores in Texas, Michigan, Georgia, and Florida did not take sick animals to veterinarians. Puppies and rabbits died without professional care. A Humane Society official said this is their best way to pursue justice for the many helpless animals.

“We are advancing legislation to stop the sale of puppy mill dogs at pet stores. We are doing these undercover expose’s to warn consumers and we are doing everything that we can to make sure that when these places are closed down that the animals go into good places,” said John Goodwin, Senior Director of Stop Puppy Mills at the Humane Society of the United States.

The report goes on to say that there were a total of 31 dead rabbits and a dead puppy taken from the Petland in Fairfax, before it was closed down.